1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a body support system and more particularly to a support which is useful in articles such as seats, beds and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Conventional body support devices like seats and mattresses are stuffed with either natural materials such as chaff, straw, millet, kapok or synthetic material such as foams of polystyrene, polyurethane or rubber. The natural "fills" over a period of time from repeated compression and/or adsorption of fluids lose their resiliency and are difficult to clean and sanitize. While synthetic materials are more sanitary and are not moisture retaining the solid monolithic fills made from these synthetic materials are soft, resilient and deformable. These synthetic fill materials have not produced satisfactory comfort to the user. Another drawback for conventional synthetic monolithic fills is that they do not permit ventilation, thereby, causing discomfort to the user by insulating body heat. Other forms of synthetic material have been used as fill e.g., flakes, granules, pellets and powders to provide cushioning devices. A typical example of one such cushioning device is commonly referred to as a "bean bag." A "bean bag" assembly is generally filled with soft and compressible polystyrene foam pellets which lose their spongy resilience after a period of use. As a result, the bean bag gradually collapses, the pellets lose their ability to flow and redistribute under the weight of a body thereby, decreasing the comfort of the user. The present invention substantially overcomes the above mentioned shortcomings of the prior art body cushioning devices by providing a unique body support system with a fill of non-absorbent and non-compressible flowable particles.
Other natural "fills" not mentioned above are air and water. Water beds of one type or another have long been used by hospitals for the treatment of patients having varying problems such as bedsores and skin burns. Like the present invention, the primary advantage of the water bed is that it uniformly distributes the body weight so that the entire body surface in contact with the mattress is evenly supported thus avoiding uncomfortable pressure points unavoidable with conventional innerspring mattresses. For this reason the water bed has stirred some interest as a consumer commodity. However, several inherent disadvantages have hindered the water bed's ability to penetrate into the conventional bed market. A major disadvantage is the substantial weight of water beds. A filled double-sized mattress, for example, weights between 1500-2000 pounds. Because of this substantial weight of water, great stresses are placed upon the mattress sidewalls creating potential for rupture of the water-tight envelope. These deficiencies of weight and possiblity of leakage limit the location of use for water beds. Another disadvantage is the oscillating wave action caused by a person's movement on the bed. While this wave action only lasts for a matter of seconds, it echos or reverberates completely through the bed.
Still another problem occurs with water beds when there is a substantial weight difference between two persons. The heavier person will sink in the mattress while the lighter person will hardly make an indentation on the support surface. The body support system of the present invention alleviates all of the above noted problems associated with water beds. For example, the solid, non-absorbent and non-compressible beads fill cannot leak in the liquid sense of the word and make the bed useless. While the beads of this invention have flowable properties of a liquid when subjected to external forces the beads would not generate the oscillating wave action of water. Furthermore, the problem of weight differential is overcome, since each body weight makes it own impression by bead displacement in each individual bag. At the same time the lateral force component is absorbed by adjacent flexible bags. The net effect is individual comfort in a double-size bed.
Gas-inflatable mattresses and cushions have long been articles of commerce. Air mattresses have found wide utility as sleeping bags. However, with the conventional air mattress, which is placed upon an irregular surface such as the earth, the inflation pressure must be great enough to support the load above the highest irregularity in the surface. This requirement generally necessitates having some sort of air pump or equivalent device for inflating the mattress, and results in a support which has very little give and which easily transmits shock to the body which is being supported. All current designs of air mattresses incorporate at least one, and generally both, of the above-mentioned limitations of excessive firmness and the requirement of providing for high pressure. For special uses, other gases like oxygen, nitrogen and helium have served as the inflating medium. The solid particles of this invention obviate these deficiencies associated with air and other gas filled mattresses. First, there is no inflation pressure required. Second, the particles operate by body displacement in a manner similar to a liquid rather than by gas expansion principles which result in an uncomfortable "pushing back" against the body weight.